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Published on FierceHealthcare (http://www.fiercehealthcare.com)

Health Net settles charges of unfair policy cancellations

By anne
Created Feb 13 2009 - 12:13pm

California health plan Health Net, along with two of its subsidiaries, has settled a lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles city attorney over charges that it improperly canceled members' policies.

Under the settlement, Health Net will pay a $2 million fine and will also make $500,000 in charitable contributions. Also, more than 800 ex-policyholders will get $6.3 million in payments, or about $7,800 each. They also will be able to request reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred during the period in which they had no coverage.

This on the heels of a similar settlement with Anthem Blue Cross, which agreed this week to pay a $1 million fine [1] to the California Department of Insurance and offer new coverage to 2,330 people it dropped when they began incurring high-cost medical expenses.

To learn more about Health Net's legal problem:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [2] (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Health Net set goals, bonuses based on policy cancellations [3]
Anthem Blue Cross agrees to $1 million fine [4]
Los Angeles sues Anthem for individual policy cancellations [5]
Blue Cross of CA settles plan-cancellation suits [6]


Source URL:
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/health-net-settles-charges-unfair-policy-cancellations/2009-02-13